Reward: The Key to Motivation

Its real important to reward yourself. What is the definition of reward anyway? The dictionary defines reward as, “something given or received in recompense for worthy behavior”- a definition that makes sense. I have a slightly different definition: giving yourself a gift for all the blood sweat and toil you have put into a task, so that you have a sign that all the hard work and effort is actually finally paying off. You will want to work harder because you will be more motivated.

My father in his career was a great success story. He advanced from manual laborer, to factory worker, to highly paid company executive. It’s an example of reward as a motivational tool. He was proud to come from humble place; a child of the depression, he grew up in a small town in the south, and as they say, .”dirt poor”. They didnt have much. When he reached a defining moment in his career, he went downtown to a dealer and bought a big brand spanking new Cadillac. I was a kid at the time and I didn’t understand why he had bought that car, in my view at the time, “an expensive, gas guzzling machine” One day we were driving and I asked him “Dad what is with this car?” He smiled and told me when he was a kid, he always saw successful people driving big cars and made a vow to himself, that if he ever “made it” he would reward himself by getting a Cadillac. Not a Ford, not a Mercury- this very car make and model. It to him was a symbol of success.

The story is the cornerstone of a key motivational law. You must reward yourself for acheivment. It is a must. It is essential to reward yourself for many reasons: 1) It’s is a great feeling and makes you want to do more. 2) Reward is a measurement of your progress. 3) To mark the endpoint of a specific goal. Done! 4) To say to yourself ” oh so this is why I am working so hard!” 5) You will feel like you are moving forward.

I once read an interesting story, about the author Steven King and his wife Tabitha. He and his wife struggled for years, as he tried to make a living as a writer. They didn’t as the saying goes, have “two coins to rub together”. He finally made it and signed a very lucrative book deal. He told his wife that they had finally “made it” and she asked “does that mean I can afford to buy a blow dryer now?” She had not been able to afford a blow dryer and now a blow dryer was in reach. She said that blow dryer, when she bought it, meant a great deal to her, more than anyone can imagine.

It is essential to have goals, both short and long term. It is also vitally important to tie to those goals, specific rewards. When you do its like rocket fuel.

Shawn Doyle is one of the nations leading speakers on motivation and a Motivational Speaker He is the author of 10 books. For a free copy of Shawn’s amazing book The 10 Foundations of Motivation, go to http://sldoyle.com.